Unstooping
Low on his fours the LionTreads with the surly Bear',But Men straight upward from the dustWalk with their heads in air;The free sweet winds of heaven,The sunlight from on highBeat on their clear bright cheeks and browsAs they go striding by;The doors of all their housesThey arch so they may go,Uplifted o'er the four-foot beasts,Unstooping, to and fro.
Words in this poem
- surly a.
- Arrogant; haughty. Cotgrave. [Probably from sir, and originally meaning, sirlike, i.e., proud. See Sir, and Like, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Unstooping is in the public domain. This text is taken from Peacock Pie, a Book of Rhymes, Project Gutenberg ebook #3753; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter de la Mare, Unstooping, in Peacock Pie (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3753, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-peacock-pie/unstooping.html, id L12604.
Form and metre
Unstooping is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A-BCBCD-D lion · bearA · dust · airA · heaven · highB · browsC · byB · housesC · goD · beasts · froD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Low on his fours the Lion | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Treads with the surly Bear', | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But Men straight upward from the dust | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Walk with their heads in air; | 6 | ······ |
| The free sweet winds of heaven, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The sunlight from on high | 6 | ·/···· |
| Beat on their clear bright cheeks and brows | 8 | ········ |
| As they go striding by; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The doors of all their houses | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| They arch so they may go, | 6 | ······ |
| Uplifted o'er the four-foot beasts, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Unstooping, to and fro. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.